LONG BEACH, Calif. — The echo of marching feet and cadence calls echoed across the sports field at Poly High on Saturday as hundreds of military cadets competed in the school’s 16th annual Junior ROTC Drill Meet.

From facing movements to rifle drills, high school-age cadets from the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines competed.

Each team was given six to eight minutes to perform marching drills, rifle drills, saber drills and more. They were also judged on armed and unarmed in-ranks inspections.

Unlike many JROTC competitions, where active military personnel are the judges, the event was judged by Poly High cadets due in part to Zachary VandeKamp, one of the founders of the competition 16 years ago when he was a Poly senior and JROTC cadet.

After competing in events judged by military professionals, they decided they wanted a competition judged by cadets.

“We decided to do a competition that we wouldn’t compete in, but we would be the judges and invite schools from all over to come,” he said.

The event has grown from a few schools to 35 entries from all over California and even from Las Vegas competing.

“It’s a learning process for the students, because they are entrusted with judging all these events,” said Poly’s Assistant JROTC Instructor John Byrum, a retired Army first sergeant. “One reason I think a lot of people come to this event is because they respect the Poly drill teams. Poly has a reputation of being scholars and champions. That is why other students will let them judge them and that’s the uniqueness of it.”

Byrum, who served 20 years in the military and has been at Poly for 20 years, understands the need for such a program.

The Junior Reserve Officer’s Training Corps was established in 1916 at Leavenworth High School in Leavenworth, Kan., and came to Poly in 1919.

“This is, if not the oldest, one of the two oldest program in the western United States,” Byrum said.

Although a successful program, not all cadets go on to the military. Of the 25 to 26 seniors in Poly’s JROTC program each year, three to nine go on to do military service, Byrum said.

“We let them know the opportunities. We’re not recruiters; we don’t push it. The only thing we push is college,” he said. “Sometimes 3 percent, sometimes 10 percent go into the military. It depends on what their goals are. And some go three to four years terms and then go to college.”

Several of the students have gone on to colleges such as West Point, Cal State Long Beach, Dominguez Hills, UCLA, USC and UC Berkeley, Byrum said.

Although he’s not going to the military, Poly senior Gorvenda Cheng, who’s in his fourth year of JROTC, is taking a similar route.

“It’s a part-time thing that keeps me busy and I really enjoy it,” Cheng said. “I plan to go to college and become a police officer.”

However, Cabrillo senior Dominique Nezey plans to retire from the military someday.

“I’m going to college for four years under the ROTC program and then I’m going into the military for 20-plus years,” she said.

For Nezey, who has spent all of her high school years in JROTC, it’s been a great experience.

“I’ve enjoy being a part of the teams. That would probably be the best thing about this,” she said. “It’s a really good experience you can’t get from anywhere else. This is the only place you can get this kind of family and this kind of experience overall.”

While some were uncertain about the cadet judges, Charles Olander, Senior Aerospace Science Instructor at Vista High School in Vista was impressed.

“I am extremely impressed with the professionalism the sharpness, and the dedication of all the students who are involved in this,” he said. “Everyone here has done a remarkable job, incredibly efficient, and incredibly professional. We had our color guard here for the first time competing in a couple of years and the young ladies who were the judges, I can’t say enough about how wonderful they were. They were top-notch professionals.”

Cheng enjoys being a cadet judge.

“I’m judging for the exhibition arms drill teams. I judge on their precision and originality,” he said. “I feel comfortable with judging because I know that when I go to their school they feel just like I do, because they are judging me as well.”

For VandeKamp it’s an honor to be a part of Poly’s history.

“It makes me very proud to see something that we started 16 years ago, for it to be running this long,” VandeKamp said. “I think it gives the kids a sense of responsibility knowing that it’s an event that they are running, that they’re responsible for, and that they’re judging their peers on something they do on a weekly basis as well.”

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